


Smoke and Grazes

by CactusBlue



Category: Father Brown (2013)
Genre: Fluff, Holding Hands, Inspector Sullivan doesn’t like socialising, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25846552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CactusBlue/pseuds/CactusBlue
Summary: You solve a murder and suddenly the family are inviting you to the wedding and reception.OrInspector Sullivan needs fresh air at a wedding reception and takes to wandering the gardens where he is followed by Sid Carter.
Relationships: Sid Carter/Inspector Sullivan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	Smoke and Grazes

If he was being honest, he didn’t even know why he was here. You solve a murder and suddenly the family are inviting you to the wedding and reception in Montague house because somehow the family tied back to Lady Felicia.

The ceremony had been quicker than he’d been expecting, although it was an afternoon wedding so he had wondered wether it would be a fast ordeal before a night of socialising. As soon as he’d spotted the bride gliding down the isle the inspectors mind had been thrown back to the perfect wedding that his mother had always envisioned for him. The brides dress modest to say the least, there was no lace or fancy jewels to boast the wealth of the family. It appears that all the money had been saved for the reception, the Montague house had been donned with gold ribbon bows and white fabric on nearly every surface possible. 

There were several different groups of people dotted around the houses ground floor, all attempting to get the inspector involved in their conversations. Without sergeant Goodfellow to keep him company he appeared to be a lonely man wandering around a wedding party. It was a terrible thought, had his mother seen him reach 34 without even a woman to be interested in she’d have attempted to set him up with a lady of her own choosing. A wedding is a strange place to become glad of your family disowning you but it appeared this is what happens when Thomas attended weddings. 

After answering “Ah no there isn’t a Mrs Sullivan.” For what felt like the 15th time, he managed to slip out the grand glass doors to walk across the gardens. He slipped off his pale cream suit jacket and draped it over his arm, socialising wasn’t his best skill. He had a tendency to overthink his replies and due to that he wouldn’t notice when he began to get warm and lightheaded. A walk through the gardens would do him good. 

Unbeknownst to the inspector, he was being followed. 

How long he’d been wandering the grass was unknown, he’d begun to gaze at the stars and walk without looking and therefore had managed to lose track of where he was in the gardens. Looking back down from the twinkling dots that dances in and out of clouds, he found that he’d wandered over to a peach building with an almost orange roof. The building looked better suited to the Mediterranean rather than the busy village of Kembleford but perhaps that was what the Montagues had planned. 

The inspector let out a deep sigh and leant on the peach wall, he’d left the party and it’s guests behind so there was no need for a facade of proper manners when he stood alone. He allowed his eyes to close as he ran his hands over his forehead, hoping to alleviate the lightheadedness. 

A cough shot through the silence, he’d wandered so far from the party it could barely be heard. His eyes began to open, just as quick as they opened he changed his stance to appear more stern, the person who had coughed was none other than Lady Felicia’s chauffeur, and petty thief, Sidney Carter. The driver was stood in his emerald green uniform, clearly tailored specifically for him judging from the way it grazed his figure. Sullivan’s brow quirked, “Carter. Any reason you’re so far from the party? I assumed this would be a perfect event for you, people showing off their riches and trinkets.” It was a low dig, he knew, but there was no way he’d let Carter see how affected he was from the sight of him in the uniform. 

Sid smirked, “Well, I thought I saw a shifty figure wandering over to the guesthouse so thought I better follow to make sure they don’t do anything bad.” The inspector supposed he must’ve looked odd, wandering over to an unknown building, but he also knows that Carter would have recognised who it was. 

The thief steps forward and turns to lean against the wall next to the inspector, “Fancy a smoke? You look like a man that’s fed up with talking.” Sullivan sighed, Carter could read him like a book. 

The inspector leant back and held out his hand for a cigarette, “There were too many people in there to ask me about my nonexistent wife.” One part of him knew that there was no need to tell Carter this, the other part was hoping for a reaction from the thief. He’d seen Carters eyes linger on men before, seen him send them challenging looks as though he was just asking for them to make a move. He knew there was something between Carter and Father Roland but in his mind there was no need for the police to get involved in this type of situation. He took the cigarette and held it in his mouth. 

Sid took out a pack of matches from his pocket, leant closer to the inspectors face and struck the match against the box. His eyes stared into the inspectors and a smirk grew on his face as he heard Sullivan take a sharp intake of breath at the close positions of their faces. Carter lit both their cigarettes together and shook out the match, lingering slightly longer than necessary before leaning back on the wall and allowing the arm closest to the inspector fall to his side. 

And so the two men stood next to each other as a party rushed on in the distance, the music was nothing but a dull hum from the guesthouse wall. Their hands would occasionally brush, as though their fingers were reaching out but their arms bound them to their sides. With each touch of skin the inspector swore the stars shone brighter.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!


End file.
